Two Weeks
by integral love
Summary: There is someone new at the ARC. Jess contemplates the new woman and the team. What has happened in the two weeks and what does the new woman think?
1. New Situation

There is someone new at the ARC. Jess contemplates the new woman.

It had been two weeks, Jess thinks, two weeks since the ARC had gotten a new member. As she looked up from her work she saw the dark-haired woman stand in the middle of the room engrossed in a model left by Nick Cutter.

It had been exactly thirteen days ago that Jess had found out that this woman wasn't new at all. She had worked here before. It had been obvious by the way Abby and Connor had jumped her, by the way Lester had nodded a greeting as if she had always been there and by the way Becker seemed comfortable around the woman

It had been twelve days since Jess realized that she was uncomfortable with this new woman. It wasn't as if she bad to be around but Jess just felt left out. Felt left out when she heard the new one and Abby talk about saving the creatures coming through the anomalies and arguing with everyone who wanted to harm one. She felt left out when even though she should be the tech-person it seemed to be the new woman who understood everything Connor said. It seemed to be her who helped the boy and reconstructed said model with him. She felt left out when the woman was arguing with Lester as if he had no authority. Most of all she she felt left out whenever Becker would go to the new woman to help her with something as if it was only natural for him to work with Connor and the new woman instead of checking on the security. These were the little things but they were what made Jess worried.

It had been seven days since the womans arrival that Jess found out that she was far from perfect. While the team was at a mission she had heard one or two things. She was afraid of most insects and disliked the others with a passion. She was a magnet for trouble and mostly she had a problem with obeying orders. Another factor that seemed to bring the new woman in troublesome situations, something Jess had seen more than once already. Still it seemed as if these mistakes made Jess feel some sympathy for her.

It had been four days since Jess had started to somehow like the new woman. She had driven her home when her car had been broken. The woman had encouraged her when she hadn't known what to do and the woman had been there when everyone else had headed out, keeping her company. And really Jess had never been someone who disliked people without a reason.

It had been three days ago that Jess had seen the new woman snap. Sarah, as that was her name she had asked Jess to call her, had screamed. She had been mad at Matt for doing something during a mission. Jess didn't know what it had been but just seeing the third woman on the team so mad had made her think it had been something big. Matt had cowered if only for a second. Yes Sarah was not someone you would want as your enemy. Still the passion Sarah had shown had impressed Jess.

It had been two days ago that Jess had found that something was wrong. The way Matt was looking at Sarah ever since the incident scared her. As if she was a variable he couldn't get, as if she was an enemy. As if she could be a keystone in a series of events that he did not trust to turn out his way anymore. Yes Matt watched everyone pretty closely but the way his eyes strayed to Sarah, the way they looked so unreadable scared her. Jess didn't like it at all, this look.

It had been one day ago that Jess had been saved by the same woman who was responsible for her heart breaking into pieces. It had been early when Jess had entered the ARC. Not much later when she had gotten her coffee her world had crashed. She had seen Sarah kiss someone. Passionately. She had cheered for her new 'friend'. Than she had seen that it was Becker who was the other participant in this not entirely work-place fitting activity. She had barely made it through the day and had mostly ignored the worried questions from everyone else.

The day had been hell so it nearly had been no suprise when a man with a gun had attacked her on her way home. Only when he had gotten a dose of pepper-spray in his eyes had he run away. Her saviour had been Sarah who had come after her because she had been worried. They had talked that night.

It was today that she thought that things would be alright. She could live with the way things were. If she got a little jealous whenever Becker stood just a little too close to Sarah, when the two of them just vanished or when she saw them leave together it was alright. It was alright because for the first time since she worked at the ARC she saw Becker smile without any worry left in his eyes. It was alright because she had found a new friend to talk to, one who was confident enough for both of them whenever Jess lacked in confidence and one who would listen to her rant about anything, even Becker, without getting mad or angry. Yes, Jess thought, things were alright. Maybe. Still she kept her eyes open. Whatever mood had gotten into Matt those days ago had left. That didn't mean that she liked the look he was giving Becker and Sarah at the precise moment. As if he had found the greatest weakness of someone he had been afraid not to be able to overcome before. And while she didn't know why she feared that what she saw might be true.

Letting her eyes stray from Matt she saw Lester in his office throwing an obviously sarcastic remark at the man standing in front of him. She saw Abby and Connor sitting in front of a computer searching some specifics about their new pet-creature and she saw Sarah being totally engrossed in Cutters model while Becker stood behind her listening with his hand on her hip and a small smile on his face.

Just as Jess wanted to get up for another coffe the alarm went off. A new anomaly. Some things never changed.


	2. Home

Alright I still own nothing. Big surprise. Anyway I hope you enjoy this. It's Sarah's side of the story. There migth soon be some kind of a prequel that will deal with how Sarah came to live at Beckers house and what happens behind the scenes. If anyone is interested I am searching someone to beta this. Thanks for your lovely comments.

Two weeks, Sarahs side.

As Sarah walked into the new ARC-building there were suprisingly few things she worried about. She had made sure that it was late so that her return wouldn't cause too much of an uproar within the staff. This was the precise reason why she had waited for two whole days having Becker tell her the exact scedule of the staff. Walking into the main room she stopped for a second to take it all in. The room was mostly deserted aside from a girl eating chocolate in front of the familiar anomaly-detector. Shaking her head she turned to the glass office finding her expectations met when she saw James Lester work behind his desk with an annoyed look on his face. Knocking she decided that it was time.

"Come in if you have news that can be counted as good", Lesters voice carried through the door sigaling her to move. The girl with the chocolate looked at her with suprise. Walking into the office Sarah closed the door behind her. "I don't know depents on whether I am good news." Despite his obvious shock Lester caught himself pretty fast but not without gracing the world with a rare smile, "So the lost sheep start to return? Maybe I should just buy sheepdogs instead of hiring security. At least they would keep you together." Yes that was Lester for you. Your most loved ass. Smiling at him she answered, "I'm just taking this as a yes seeing as you obviously want to keep us. Anyway do I till have my job?" The man huffed. "I thought you wanted to start rigth now but as you seem to be a bit out of it why don't you come back tomorro? At least until then I will have filled all the paperwork your arrival so gracefully pushed into my arms." "Of course sir, thank you." While she counted the talk as ended Lester suprised her, adding as an afterthought, "It's good to have you back Page. Maybe you can put the kids on a leash." Sarah chuckled. As if. Walking out of the room she smirked in his direction. "You know how good I am at following orders. Oh and Lester, you missed me." With that she was gone.

Coming in early on her first or rather second day at work was another step of her plan to minimize the damage done by anyone of the team when they would see her. This way none would be holding something valuable. She had introduced herself to the woman she had seen on the previous day and then started working on Cutters Anomaly-model. After nodding at Lester when he entered she became engrossed in the work. That was until she heard the squeel coming from either Abby or Connor upon seeing her. They hugged, they talked and the two of them took the job of offically introducing her to the two new members of the team, Jess and Matt. When Becker entered the room after a security-check Connor and her were already working again. Still her soldier came over to talk for a few seconds with the two of them before reporting to Lester. Yes things felt normal again, that was until Becker signaled for her to go to Lester. This was going to be the talk she had somehow dreaded far more than the reactions of her teammates concerning her return but due to formality it had to be done.

As a rule Sarah was right more often than not so the dreaded topic came up after no more than two minutes of talking. "Miss Page where are you living at the moment? I am quite certain that your flat was sold a short time ago", yes Lester knew about everything and there was no way he could tell anyone that he didn't care. Still how to explain this? There was no good way to say it without giving a totally not satisfying reason. "I realized that. Which makes me the flat-partner of Captain Becker for the moment." Now that brought a reaction she had not suspected. The utter suprise on Lesters face was nearly too good to be true but she couldn't blame him. She had seen the way the new girl looked at Becker and she knew that he was just too good to tell her off. So yes she knew how the situation looked for most people, especially considering Becckers nature. But then Lester also had no idea of some events previous to the failed rescue of Connor, Abby and Danny. Really she couldn't blame her boss for looking suprised. Not in the slightest. Still it made her uncomfortable so she wanted to leave as soon as possible. "If that was all, may I go back to work now?" Lester who had been able to restore his typical stoic features looked up for a small moment, "Certainly. I wouldn't want you to stop you from doing something suprisingly dangerous as you people always do. But Miss Page you will meet Philip Burton within the next week. Considering your living-arrangements I am sure you already know why." With that she was dismissed and allowed to go back to work.

How good it felt to be back. She was close to saying that it was just another day at the office. Actually she had said exactly that when Matt had asked her how it felt to be working at the ARC again. The rise in his eyebrows had given away nearly as much as the shocked look of Jess. Still it was just that. Things were good as far as she was concerned. Abby and her had defended the creature that had found its way through an anomaly on her first field trip this morning. Afterwards Connor and her had started to rebuild Nick's model, something that was going suprisingly well, especially with Becker's occasional help if the two of them lacked one or two hands. It was a small gesture on his part but none the less a very significant one. Yet there was one thing that bugged her. Watching the people on one of her breaks she had seen Jess look at Becker and her in a lost and sad way, something that disturbed her more than she let on. She hurt for the girl who so obviously felt left out but was too humble to say something, leaving Sarah and the old team alone. But she liked the girl and she did not wish for her to hurt. A plan had to be made and soon.

It was the first day of the new week and she had to meet Philip Burton. Suprisingly enough she was far from thrilled. Sure the man was obviously far from stupid and she had heard from Connors fan-girl reaction but somehow she got the feeling that the man would leave her unimpressed. Which he did no thanks to the earlier mission which had brought the world some new insects. Insects. God knew how much she hated them. And if god didn't than at least Connor did. The boy had left out no possibilty to tease her, something only made more annoying by the fact that he had called her a trouble-magnet. The kid had some nerve considering his own history with trouble. So when Burton had entered the main room his chances of getting her on the right foot and having a nice conversation had already been slim. The semi-casual way he had carried himself and the effort he put into not wanting to seem special were annoying her not one minute after he had entered. The way his eyes had flashed suprised by her missing comment on his achievements, the complete lack of nervousness on her side and her failure to praise him in any way had given his humble appearance a slight dampener in her opinion. He might be the one with the power who could fire her but it was a known fact that she had problemes with authority. Something that could be seen the moment she refused to answer why it took her so long to get back. That was none of his business, actually it was none of anyones business. So when he had ordnered her to tell her because he could not have someone work for him whom he didn't trust she had told him off with some nearly friendly words that had earned her suprised looks from the new team-members as well as from Connor, a small smile from Abby, a raised corner of the captains mouth and a satisfield grin on Lesters face as well as a bewildered look on Burtons. Unnecessary to say that he hadn't fired her. "With all due respect you might find that while my actions previous to me coming back had nothing to do with the ARC or how trustworthy I am they are also none of your business. And quite frankly while you could fire me and might be able to find a replacement for me I am quite sure that you won't do it. I have worked with Nick Cutter previous to his demise and as you are not totally dim-witted I am quite certain that you can see the value in that fact as well as you can probably see that Lester would not hire someone he would think to be incapable. Now you might want to excuse me because I do have work to do." With that she had turned around and had resumed her work on Cutters model. Needless to say the silence after Burton had left for Lesters office had been undisturbed until the man had wholly left the ARC.

Only later that evening things had cooled down. As Becker and she had driven seperately due to their different shifts this day she could stay as long as she wanted. And wanting to stay she did for the work calmed her still riling mind. She had no idea why but she simply could not stand Philip Burton. Alright maybe she knew why but that knowledge did nothing for her nerves so she walked until it was rather late. Walking towards her car she saw Jess standing in front of her car looking about as annoyed as she still felt. Deciding that she had to have an at least acceptable relationship with the other woman she went to talk to her. As it turned out the younger womans car was broken so Sarah brought her home. It might have been a strange situration considering that both women hadn't talked much and didn't know anything about the other but Sarah thought of it as a start. Driving home after this she was a lot calmer. Seeing the food on the table and Becker dead asleep on the couch made the day a lot less annoying than it had previously been. Yes she could live with a man like Burton if it meant she could come home to a place like this.

Within the next days life went by pretty smooth. The team worked well and she was able to form some kind of a friendship with Jess. She had stayed with the young operator twice, letting the others go out. Sure once she had wanted to go but Becker's eyes, pleading her to stay had convinced that she might want to let this mission slide. It had turned out to be a good thing as Jess had nearly gotten a fit when she had to heck into a security system of a rather big enterprise. Encouraging the girl, telling her that she knew how to do it worked quite well, well enough in fact that Jess seemed to warm up to her.

On the more personal side of things her relationship with Becker became more and more like the one they had had only shortly before their slightly insane rescue-mission. Something Sarah found herself to enjoy immensly.

Another day at the office or so Sarah had thought. Though luck that she had been wrong about that though. Now Sarah was furious. Not only had Philip tried to order them around but Matt had brougth them all in danger when he had gone after the creature, wanting to keep it. Sarah had thougth that keeping creatures was normal for them considering their little zoo back at the ARC but the thing Matt had wanted to capture to take a look at it had been nothing short of a future predator. The things had left her scarred for life and by the looks of Abby, Connor and Becker their happieness to see one of them walking around was really only beaten by hers. In the end they had killed it and desposed the remains. Through all of it Matt had complained about the information getting lost. Needless to say that Philips nagging about the anomaly and their experiences with the future had done nothing for her mood. When they had been back at the ARC and Matt had actually had the nerve to complain about the whole thing again she had snapped. She had not screamed but by the look on the face of Connor she must have sounded deadly, an assumption confirmed when Matt had cowered if only a bit. He had given up after that seeing as Lester himself held no greater love for these creatures and had been quite adamant about no such things ever coming near any of them again, if possible. When she went home later she could still see the way Matt looked at her, she could feel Abbys and Connors grins, Jess's awestruck face, Lester smirk and Becker's watchfull gaze on her back when she left. Yes aright that little outburst might have made more of an impression than she had intended it to have but hence her time in the future. The only thing she disliked more than the future predators were insects.

The night after this rather eventfull day had been quite a surprise and not less heated than her speech about predators. Though there had been some deep points before that.

The next days had been mostly great. Sure there had been something unsettling about Matts gaze but aside from that she was happy. Becker and Sarah had kept whatever it was they had going on pretty secret but there were some stolen kisses here and there. One particular day Jess had seen them. The reaction of the girl had been telling enough and while Becker had been oblivious Sarah was not only far from stupid but also rather in tune with the feelings of others. Or at least she wasn't as emotionally complicated as Becker. The shock and awkward moments the whole day long as well as the pained face of the younger woman had told Sarah all she had needed to know. Jess was in love with Becker and there was no denying that. They would need to talk so when Jess had headed off Sarah left as well. The young woman who had opted to walk due to her still broken car had been gone though. Driving after her in the direction Sarah knew Jess lived she found the girl she had searched in a rather problematic situation. Grabbing the pepper-spray she always kept in her car she attacked the man who was pushing Jess to a wall. After spraying some of the stuff in the mans eyes he ran away. Only after they had reached the house Jess stayed in did they start to talk. That night she hadn't gone home but rather she had stayed on the couch after a long night and talk about everything the from her past at the ARC, her life, Becker, Lester, Jess past, pretty much everything, the girls had passed out where they sat. Still even though it had been uncomfortable to wake up with a stiff neck it had been worth it.

Driving home to change her clothes before a new day she told Becker about the events of the evening and night. Yes Jess and she had become friends but what might be even more important was that Becker was far from angry even though she had been gone for the whole nigth. Rather she got a sweet kiss and a promise to make up for the lost night with some breakfast and a massage later that day.

She did indeed get brakfast that day and the massage she was getting now was nothing if not awesome. Content Sarah closed her eyes. If this was her life now she could deal with anything. She had feared that things would be different and hard but it had only been two weeks and already she felt more at home than ever. A relaxed smile grazed her features as she relaxed even further. Looking at the man who was currently massaging her feet she knew that this was perfect.


End file.
